Our Opinion: On the threshold of Transformation

How will our community be transformed in the future? And what role will you play in the process?

Those questions will be topics of discussion next week when the Jefferson City Area Chamber of Commerce unveils Transformation, a strategic plan for future economic development.

The plan will be rolled out during a public meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Miller Performing Arts Center. The keynote speaker for the event will be Dr. Tim Benson, a Jefferson City native who serves as medical director of the McLean Center at Fernside, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School.

Transformation is a result of months of work by Chamber staff and volunteers, together with its consultant, TIP Strategies of Austin, Texas.

Those efforts have included a survey, focus groups and community meetings. The process was designed to invite and include maximum public participation and input.

Wednesday’s event represents another step, not a conclusion, of the process.

Now that Transformation has been conceived, the work begins to transform ideas into reality.

To that end, Chamber officials continue to welcome volunteers to serve on committees that will be responsible for implementing the plan.

In the January edition of Chamber Today, incoming Chairman Jane Wear-Enloe issued the following invitation. “In addition to attending the roll out, you are invited to work on a committee to help make the dreams for an even better community a reality.”

We encourage people not only to attend the event, but to consider how they can become a part of this meaningful transformation.